(710)  DEAN KEEN

Roy Martin QC stepped down as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, but like his predecessor, not to go on the Bench (see No 391).  The Faculty missed an opportunity to break through the glass ceiling when it elected Richard Keen QC to be Mr Martin’s successor, rather than Vice-Dean Valerie Stacey QC.  For more on Mr Keen, currently representing the family of the late French chauffeur Henri Paul at the London inquest into the 1997 death of Princess Diana, see the Faculty website at http://www.advocates.org.uk/news/news_20071128_new_dean.html.

In another interesting development at the Faculty, Michael Jones QC left the bar in December to head up a new Dispute Resolution Department at leading Edinburgh solicitors’ firm Simpson & Marwick.  Mr Jones becomes a senior partner within the firm.